Ali Bracken takes the Kellogg's 'drop a jeans size' challenge
I'm surprised to report that the Kellogg's "drop a jeans size challenge" works. In fact, it works really well. Appropriately pitched in the post-Christmas period and pushed by a relentless marketing drive, people all over Ireland have been giving the Kellogg's diet a go, and no-one was a bigger cynic than me.
Kellogg's say you should lose up to 4lbs on its recommended diet that consists of two bowls of cereal, Special K or Crunchy Nut, and a proper meal every day for a fortnight. I was surprised to lose double that amount of weight. But, according to Kellogg's, I'm "one of the lucky few".
"The average weight loss is 2lbs with some people losing up to 4lbs. So losing 8lbs really is a lot," says Shilpee Mehrotra, nutritionist for Kellogg's in the UK. A team of nutritionists in the UK came up with the diet plan they say has sufficient nutritional value to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The two-week pilot diet was conducted at Loughborough University in Leicestershire with the help of 94 volunteers in 2003. "And 38 per cent of the volunteers dropped an entire jeans size," says Mehrotra.
Only 38 per cent? Why is it labelled the "drop a jeans size challenge" then? "Well, different people will lose weight in different places. Seventy-five per cent of volunteers lost a significant amount of weight around the hips and waist."
For me, maintaining my new weight in the week following the diet proved the real challenge. After losing 8lbs, I put back on 2lbs within a week as I rediscovered sandwiches, sugary snacks and, well, food generally.
But the week after that, I managed to lose the 2lbs again by being careful about what I ate - but I didn't revert to the cereal diet. I don't know how my weight will continue to fluctuate but let's just say I'm not binning all my old jeans just yet.
To begin with, I had quite an unhealthy diet. I eat crisps, biscuits and fizzy drinks on a regular basis and I'm a fast-food fan. I'm relatively active, meaning I walk everywhere because I don't have a car, but I'm not gym fit and the Kellogg's challenge was the first diet I've ever been on.
A friend of mine began the diet around the same time as me but quit after two days, saying: "I just like food too much to deal with this."
And she has a point. My main motivation to finish the diet was that I'd committed to write about it; otherwise I would certainly have relented. The first few days were particularly tough as my body adjusted to consuming about half of its average intake and I remained very hungry for the entire fortnight.
But worse was dealing with the utter boredom of eating Special K or Crunchy Nut twice a day. But when I began to lose weight after about a week I felt it was almost, but not quite, worth it.
To me, the whole thing just screams crash diet. The people at Kellogg's disagree.
"It's not a crash diet at all. It's actually an eating plan for two weeks to kick-start a healthy lifestyle," Mehrotra says.
Ind-ependent nutritionist Margot Brennan, public relations officer with the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI), agrees that the Kellogg's challenge is not a fad diet and contains sufficient nutrients for a balanced diet.
"It's not a crash-crash diet because it's not a low calorie intake diet. It's much better than something like the cabbage soup diet but it's not going to re-train you on how to eat properly," she says.
Brennan advises those who are serious about weight loss to follow the food pyramid system that recommends how often certain types of food should be consumed. "If you were to stick to the food pyramid recommendations you'd lose the same amount of weight," she says.
As part of the Kellogg's diet, you're allowed to snack on as much fruit and vegetables as you like and you're not expected to change your alcohol consumption. I'm a big fan of fruit, and without it, I don't think I could have completed the two weeks.
And because the Kellogg's diet is quite low in fibre, it is important to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables to get everything your body needs, says Brennan.
Kellogg's recommend that you do the diet for two weeks and no longer, saying it wouldn't be practical otherwise. "It wouldn't be realistic and of course you'd get tired of eating cereal," Mehrotra says.
I for one have had my fill of cereal for the foreseeable future. "It's fairly restrictive but it's an easy short-term plan to follow," she adds.
The Kellogg's diet isn't suitable for everyone. Only those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 25 are deemed candidates to try to lose those extra pounds. You can log onto Kellogg's website to check your BMI, get advice on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle as well as a forum to discuss your progress with fellow dieters.
"Diets can really take your life over," says Brennan. "The whole idea of going on a diet isn't a good one," she says.
"What people should do is try to change one thing about their diet each week. This way, you can make life-long changes. It should be more about re-education on how to eat properly than dieting."